Sen. Kennedy’s Legislative Legacy in Support of Higher Education Access

A major part of the legislative legacy that the late Sen. Edward Kennedy leaves behind reflects his desire to make higher education more affordable and accessible.

Here are some highlights of higher education legislation that Kennedy either sponsored or for which the late senator provided major support during his 47 years in the U.S. Senate.

As part of the first reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in 1968, Kennedy supported the creation of the Student Support Services program. This program — along with Upward Bound and Talent Search, which were created in the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and the Higher Education Act of 1965, respectively — provided tutoring, mentoring and other assistance to low-income, first generation college students to increase their retention and graduation rates. These three programs currently are known as the TRIO programs.

Working with Sen. Claiborne Pell during the 1972 reauthorization, Kennedy supported the creation of the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant. This program, which became known as the Pell Grant in 1980, drastically increased the availability of grant aid to disadvantaged students. Kennedy also was a key supporter of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which protected women from discrimination in educational institutions and increased athletic opportunities for women in colleges and universities. President Richard Nixon signed this bill into law on June 23, 1972.

Kennedy sponsored the National and Community Service Trust Act, which was signed into law by President Clinton in 1993, creating AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service to expand opportunities for citizens to serve their communities. The bill also created education grants for students who volunteer for service after college. The grants offer an opportunity for students to repay student loans, and encourage more individuals to participate in service to their community.

Kennedy also was a key player in the congressional effort to establish the Direct Lending program, which was enacted as part of the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act created the Income Contingent Repayment program to make repayment of student loans more manageable.

The Academic Research Facilities Modernization Act of 1998, passed as an amendment to the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 1988, established programs to modernize academic research facilities and improve undergraduate science and engineering education.

As chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Kennedy in
2007 helped pass the College Cost Reduction Act. The bill increased the Pell Grant by $490 for the 2007-2008 school year and by $1,090 in 2012, and will cut interest rates on undergraduate subsidized student loans in half by 2011. The law also makes debt more manageable for student borrowers by capping monthly loan payments at 15 percent of discretionary income and providing loan forgiveness for students who enter public service.

Kennedy worked with Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., to pass the Higher Education Opportunity Act in 2008, which reauthorized the Higher Education Act for the first time in a decade. The legislation took significant steps to make college more accessible and affordable for more students by: simplifying the application process for financial aid; providing students and families with better information on college costs; and expanding aid for the neediest students, members of the military, and students with disabilities.

In May 2008, Kennedy helped pass a bipartisan bill to continue access to federal student loans regardless of turbulence in the private credit market. The Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act also reduces students’ and parents’ reliance on higher-cost nonfederal student loans by increasing the amount of low-cost federal loans available to students and providing parents with improved access to PLUS loans. In September 2008, with the financial markets continuing to struggle, Kennedy acted to protect students’ and families’ ability to obtain student loans for the 2009-2010 school year. He helped pass legislation extending for an additional year the U.S. Department of Education’s authority to act as a secondary market of last resort, so that students and families will be able to obtain the loans they need for college, despite the credit crisis.